Bitter & Esters Classes Coming up in New York

Our intro classes are designed for the absolute novice brewer. They are a fantastic experience for anyone looking to develop a deeper understanding of beer, its ingredients, and the process by which it’s made in a friendly and savvy environment. We teach in a concentrated 2 to 3 hour workshop format that focuses on a hands-on learning experience....

Are you ready to step into all-grain brewing but not sure where to start? This is an advanced class for the intermediate or experienced extract brewer. We’ll take an in depth look at the mashing process and different styles of mashing/lautering & sparging along with the enzymatic and chemical pathways involved. Additionally, we’ll cover water...

Brewers make wort. Yeast make beer. Our yeast class and accompanying tasting will delve deeply into the world of everyone’s favorite microorganism. The yeast lecture will cover: Yeast Nutrition, growth and chemical pathways that effect home brewers. How to choose and maintain a happy culture in your home brew and how strain selection impacts beer...

This advanced course and accompanying tasting will engross you in the wonderfully complex world of hops which are the delicate, cone-like flower giving many of your favorite brews their delicious and complex aromas and flavors. Hops are wonderfully diverse and are used for multiple purposes. Each variety imparts a uniquely different scent and flavor...

Writing beer recipes can be daunting, especially for new brewers. From malts and hops to yeast and adjuncts, every decision can effect the final flavor of the brew. In this class, students will learn the basics of writing a beer recipe. We cover everything from the first steps of dreaming up its delicious flavors all the way through to...

Water! Everyone's second favorite liquid. Brewing water can be an intimidating aspect for any home brewer. In this advanced and comprehensive class, we will go over the water basics that every brewer should know along with ways to improve your beer through water treatment. The class will be light on chemistry and big on practical advice. Topics...

Raphael Lyon, founder and head mazer (meadmaker) of Enlightenment Wines Meadery in Bushwick will give a special class on wild meads, using natural methods, spontaneous fermentation, and time you can get a sense of what mead making has been historically like across thousands of years! Learn to work with the organisms around us and not against...

Joshua Witchger has spent the last seven years fermenting foods and beverages at home, on farms, and at work. As the operations manager for Brooklyn Brine he brews kombucha and other funky drinks for their cafe. We'll be covering a whole range of topics on making Kombucha: Defining Kombucha What's a SCOBY? How to Make Kombucha Ingredients / Fermentation...

Interested in starting a career in beer? The market for beer jobs is growing fast, along with the competition for those jobs. Becoming a Certified Cicerone® will help you hit the ground running by distinguishing yourself from the rest of crowd with some verifiable beer knowledge. The public demand for a wider range of beer styles is growing rapidly...

At this Free Event we invite all Home Brewers to come share their beer with each other. It’s a great way to try delicious home brewed beers and get feedback on your beer.
Special Notice! This month’s beer swap is being moved forward one week to October 29th because Charlie Papazian is coming to Bitter & Esters!
Bring a bottle to pour (and...

A tasting experiment will be conducted to identify flavor differences between yeast strains under ideal fermentation conditions. Tasting: Lost British Strains A large batch of beer and separated it into eight fermenters. Then pitch a different yeast into each fermenter. The samples that will taste and discuss. 1028 London Ale 1098 British Ale 1099...

Tasting – we’ll conduct a tasting to give you an experiential understanding of hops and their properties. Taste, identify, and discuss hop varieties at work in six aromatic and two bittering beer examples.